Derek Venturi
Derek Venturi is a character from Life With Derek, a Canadian-produced show. Derek Venturi is played by Michael Seater.
Character description
Derek is portrayed as a rebel. He is really hot. Over the years he has nearly always gotten what he wanted, both at home and school. He takes pride in charming his father, his peers, their parents, and seasoned teachers. Until now, his influence, especially at home, has been uncontested.
Derek is a "guy’s guy". He plays sports, notably hockey. He also spends a considerable amount of time thinking about, and talking to girls, completing the "macho male" stereotype.
Derek often finds picking on his new step-sister Casey amusing. In his mind, her refusal to submit only encourages him, and makes the activity more challenging.
His younger brother Edwin is his trusted accomplice and lackey. For years, what Derek wanted, Edwin delivered. Now, with the appearance of two new sisters, Edwin is reconsidering his position. Since Casey has moved into Derek’s house, and since he is portrayed as having a naturally conniving nature, Derek starts out ahead. However he often seems to underestimate Casey. Moreover, well hidden beneath the arrogance and confidence is a soft heart, which sometimes gets in the way of his desire to win. This soft-heartedness is characterized by the fact that he, though generally being considered not very considerate, has a noticeable soft spot for his younger sister, Marti. When it comes to Casey, Derek has a "nobody messes with my sister but me" attitude.
-In "The Fall", Derek admits to the entire school (by word of mouth) that Casey is his stepsister, using his popularity to minimize the teasing aimed at her.
-Also in "The Fall", Derek uses his best friend, Sam, to stop Casey from making a "Teasing Hurts" speech, which he knows will embarrass her more than ever if she goes through with it.
-In "The Poxfather", Derek is running an under-the-counter business at school - but when he's stuck home with the chicken pox, he pays Casey to run the business for him. When Casey gets caught, he sacrifices the biggest money-maker in his business to get her out of trouble, and uses his connections to get her a cell phone.
-In "Male Code Blue", Derek concedes that Sam and Casey have real feelings for each other and, even though he doesn't like it, they should be together.
-Derek is often portrayed as a 'bad boy' and he is. But he is honest about it, unlike Casey who claims to be kind and decent when she's actually just as malicious, if not more, then he is.
-To Derek the struggles in the Venturi household and at school are a game and he plays it skillfully. Casey on the other hand takes it much too seriously and relies on their parents to win far too often.
Relations with Other Characters
Casey MacDonald
Although their siblings seem to get along with each other fine, Casey and Derek, the older children do not get along at all. Casey and her battles with her new step-brother are often main points of every episode. However, it's shown in a few episodes that they don't totally dislike each other. In the episode "The Fall", Derek insists he's only helping Casey's rep because if she looks bad, he looks bad, but it's made pretty obvious that Lizzie's statement, "She's your sister too," actually got to him. He also bails her out of trouble in "The Poxfather". He is quicker to help, however, when he gets something out of it too. Same as Derek, Casey knows when her brother is not playing and needs help. At home mostly what Casey fights for is for the Venturi and the MacDonald family to have the same power over the house.
Edwin Venturi
Derek has spent his entire life bossing Edwin around. He often uses Edwin in his "battle" against Casey - usually sending Edwin as his messenger boy to propose a peaceful resolution (namely, that Casey give in) before things get ugly. Derek is aware of how much Edwin admires him, but rather than trying to set a good example, he generally just pulls Edwin into his scheme of the week. While Derek's intended target is Casey, Edwin is the one who usually ends up getting the short end of the stick. Although he knows Edwin aspires to be as "cool" as him, he doesn't totally want to taint his brother, like in the episode "He shoots, she scores". That snack bar girl was so... (sees Edwin) nice. Also, at times Derek cares about Edwin, like when Edwin is being used by a girl (She promises Edwin a slow dance if Lizzie doesn't play in the Hockey game so the team wins) and knows he is, Derek says Well, I don't like seeing my brother being used. Although Edwin will be occasionally afraid of Derek, he's always there to help... sometimes for money and sometimes just to be a nice guy.
Lizzie MacDonald
Derek and Lizzie have an unspoken "live and let live" policy. They rarely interact, but neither does one of them have a problem with the other. They could potentially be close without Casey standing between them, but they have an understanding that for right now, this is how it is. In "The Fall", Derek is unsympathetic toward Casey's plight until Lizzie comes to him and begs on Casey's behalf. He also coaches her in Hockey, and ends up hugging her and calling her "Super Lizzie". Also, when he offers to help her more, she asks if it's as her coach or stepbrother, and he replies; as her big brother. The two have a pretty good relationship, which Casey doesn't exactly approve of, which she should; just because Casey doesn't like Derek doesn't mean Lizzie can't.
Marti Venturi
Though Derek doesn't seem much like an older brother in most respects, he does have the older-brother instincts when it comes to Marti. Derek would do nearly anything for Marti - including dressing up as a princess. He also comes to her rescue when Casey doesn't know what to do when Marti eats mysterious berries in the epispde, "The Wedding". Derek doesn't understand why Marti likes Casey and sometimes considers her a "liability" when he and Casey are competing, but he always forgives Marti and always lets her try again. They call each other Smarti and Smerek, and they have a secret handshake.
George Venturi
Derek's father, George, always seems to have to discipline Derek. Derek often makes smart-alec remarks to his smart lawyer father. However, in most episodes, Derek and George have a decently normal father-son relationship, although George never hesitates in accusing Derek for all his problems. But usually Derek gets him to take his side in argument with Casey.
George is like Derek in many ways, he likes sports, he will normally get a burp in at the total gross-out contest, and he respects the fact that Edwin and Derek don't want to be turned into "girls". But he also doesn't mind the changes Casey is making, which Derek will not accept.
Nora MacDonald-Venturi
In "Babe Raider", Derek makes the comment to his father that "I like her, Dad but you married her." Derek thinks Nora is a good person, but he really didn't want her to move into his house, bringing two daughters and all their feminist ideas. While Nora always takes Casey's side in arguments and won't even consider Derek's point, she usually tries to reason with him about her points. Derek sees Nora as Casey's tool to get what she wants in the house.
External links
- Derek Always Wins Official Fanlisting